The basic concept of virtual reality has been written about in science fiction novels for years, but the actual implementation of that concept is a work in progress. As the basic concept goes, a user may experience a virtual world that is simulated using one or more computers. The user may wear special goggles to view a computer-generated image representing a view of a virtual environment, and the user may interact with the environment by, for example, reaching out with a hand to “move” a displayed object. In real life, the user's moving hand may be holding a special controller, or may be wearing a glove that is detectable by the computer, while in the computer-generated image of the virtual world, a displayed hand might move as well.
In such a virtual world, the displayed image displays movement corresponding to the movement of the user's hand. However, technical limitations may hamper virtual experiences. For example, if the computer system is able to detect the user's hand position once every second, then very rapid movements of the user's hand may result in jarring displays in the computer-generated image, where the virtual hand may appear to jump around on the screen. It would be an advance in the art if such rapid movements could be intelligently interpolated in the virtual environment to present a less jarring experience.